Sheet-metal box.



PATBNTED AUG. 16, 1904. J. A. BOWER.

SHEET METAL BOX. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 19.1903.

UNITED STATES Patented August 16, 1904.

PATENT QEETCE.

SHEET-METAL BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 767,378, dated August 16, 1904. Application filed June 19,1903. Serial No. 162,229. (No model.)

To II/ZZ 1177mm, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN A. BOWER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented or discovered new and useful Improvements in Sheet-Metal Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

In the accompanying drawings, which make part of this specification, Figure 1 is a perspective of one form of a box made in accordance with my invention, a portion of the box between the ends being removed. Fig. 2 is a perspective of'fragments of said box, showing the joints and the cover at one corner separated in order to show how the sides and covers of the box look before'assembling them. Fig. 3 is a cross-section through the seam or joint where two sides of said box are connected. Fig. 4 is a perspective of the upper portion of a body of a box having its four sides made of one sheet of metal.

My invention relates to sheet-metal boxes especially designed as shipping-cases for goods in packages, though they are equally serviceable as storage-boxes for any article.

I have provided a shipping or storing package made entirely of sheet-steel so constructed as to be readily opened by the consignee or user, and especially adapted to the transportation and storage of articles of merchandise that need better protection from atmospheric influences than ordinary wooden cases afford.

My package is practically indestructible and always valuable, after it has served as a shipping-case, for the safe storage of various ,articles such as merchants, farmers, and housekeepers desire to protect against damage from rats, mice, or insects.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2, and 3 of the drawings, 1 represents the body of the box, having the two like sides 2 and the two like sides 3, each consisting of sheet-steel having its ends bent down at a right angle to its face, forming flanges 1. Each flange 4: has each end beveled at 5 at about an angle of forty-five degrees to the face of the box side 2 or 3, so that when the two sides 2 and 3 are joined are arranged in pairs, as shown, the faces or broadest parts of the tongues lying close to or opposing each other.

The middle of the edge of the flanges 4 have pairs of slits,'and tongues 8 are turned up between the pairs of slits so as to stand at a right angle to the top faces of the flanges.

Each lateral edge of the sides 2 is bent at a right angle to said side 2 to form the guidewall 9, and theouter part of the edge so bent is turned inwardly and so as to lie parallel to the guide-wall 9 and forms the inner guidewall 10, the two walls 9 and 10 being spaced apart to form a guideway 11 as wide as the sheet-steel used is thick. The free edge of the wall 10 is spaced from the side 2 a distance equal to the thickness of the sheet metal.

Each lateral edge of the sides 3 is bent outwardly, so as to lie parallel with the side 3 to form the guideway 12 and the guide-tongue 13.

The tongue 13 fits the guideway 11, and the guide-wall 1O fits the guideway 12, as shown on Figs. 1 and 3, forming acorner-s'eam whose interlocking parts are slidable on each other and separable, as is readily understood.

Each end of the box has a cover 14, provided on each edge with a flange 15, Which overlaps the sides 2 and 3, as shown on Fig. 1, when the cover is in place. Each cover has a number of holes 16, through which the tongues 7 and 8 pass when it is applied to the box. The tongues are bent down upon the faces of the covers, as shown in Fig. 1, to fasten the covers securely on the boxes; The covers can be readily removed by simply straightening out the tongues so that they again stand as they were before the covers were put on. The covers can be put on and removed a great many times before the tongues break and even then the utility of the boxes as storage-receptacles is not at all impaired. The pairs of the corner-tongues 7 are bent in opposite directions, as shown on Fig. 1.

When a merchant has received a number of the boxes, he may remove the covers and separate the sides 2 and 3 by merely sliding them apart at the corner guide-seams. The several parts of the boxes may then be packed in a very small space and reshipped to be reiilled for another consignment or to be otherwise reused.

Fig. 4c shows a portion only of the boxbody, the cover for the box here shown being the same as that shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The box-body in this figure is made of one sheet of metal bent at the four corners, the edges being riveted together, as shown at 17, or otherwise secured.

It is obvious that my boxes may have any desired cross-section.

Having described my invention, I claim 1. In a sheet-metal box, a body portion having at a plurality of its corners a pair of tongues integral with the said body, the members of each pair having their faces opposing each other, and a cover having openings at the corners to receive each a pair of tongues, the latter being bent in opposite directions upon the cover.

2. In a sheet-metal box, a body portion provided with a flanged end, upstanding tongues on the flanged portion, and a cover for the body provided with openings to receive the said tongues, the latter adapted to be bent down upon the cover.

3. In a sheet-metal box, a body portion having a plurality of sides, provided with end flanges, the flanges of contiguous sides forming butt-joints, upstanding tongues on the flanges, a cover having openings to receive the tongues, the latter adapted to be bent down on the cover.

4:. In a sheet-metal box, a body portion composed of detachable sides, abutting flanges on the sides, tongues borne by the flanges, and a cover having openings to receive the tongues.

Signed at Pittsburg this 17th day of June, 1903.

JOHN A. BOIVER.

WVitnesses:

A. M. STERN, F. N. BARBER. 

